What a decadent nose, with strawberry pie, cream, vanilla, and exotic fruits. Almost new world in style. Full and round, with minty, bright fruits on the palate. Long and wonderful, exciting and fresh. A real beauty. Closes down a little bit, but this is still a big surprise. Pull the cork after 2015.

I loved the 2003 Rauzan-Ségla. It’s from a scorching hot vintage, but it has stayed beautifully balanced and has loads to love. Based on 53% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot, and the rest Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc, it offers a complex, resolved bouquet of ripe black fruits, smoke tobacco, fruitcake, and incense. Medium to full-bodied, downright sexy, complex, and nuanced, it’s drinking at point today. It’s not going to get any better, but it will certainly hold nicely for another 8-10 years.

The heatwave year has lent a telltale ripeness to the fruits here, along with its warm character of exotic spices and tender, fully ripened tannins. The alcohol is relatively low, suggesting possible blockages of ripeness which may be responsible for the slight green notes that are actually quite welcome, balancing the fleshy fig and damson fruits. There's still some juice running through the whole thing and it has kept its balance, although it will not age as well as some other vintages. I would say that John Kolasa, director at the time, played this very well. Picked 10 September to 22 September, with a 30hl/ha yield. 55% new oak. Drinking Window 2019 - 2032
Tasted by Jane Anson (at Château Rauzan-Ségla vertical, 02 Apr 2019)
Part of Anson: Tasting every Château Rauzan-Ségla vintage from 1994 to 2018

Deep garnet-brick colored, the 2003 Rauzan-Ségla reveals notes of espresso, cigar box, sandalwood and leather over a core of raisin cake, prunes and potpourri. Medium to full-bodied, the palate possesses a lot of mature fruit with a chewy frame and compelling herbal sparks that come through on the long finish.
The blend this year is 53% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot, 2% Cabernet Franc and 5% Petit Verdot, harvested between September 4th and 22nd at an average yield of 30 hectoliters per hectare. It was aged for 18 months in French oak, 55% new. The alcohol is 12.5%. LPB

Good red with a hint of development at the rim. Mellow aromas of sandalwood, mocha, coffee, smoked meat and nutty oak. Fat, round and sweet, with a silky texture but good rather than outstanding depth of flavor. Finishes with substantial dusty tannins and good length.

The 2003 Rauzan-Ségla is a vintage that I have tasted several times and certainly constitutes one of the better Margaux. The bouquet is a little smudged with boysenberry and raspberry scents, sandalwood and sage, loose-knit with just a slight alcoholic warmth. The palate is low as you would expect, but it retains balance and it offers an attractive, liquorice-tinged finish that might lack the pedigree of other vintages, but is certainly more controlled and focused than its peers. Tasted from a bottle from my own collection.